Another round of interrogations was held on Monday as the internal investigation into an alleged police overtime racket deepens.  

Sources close to the investigation said that interrogation of officers had continued at a steady pace ever since the first batch of officers were called in last week. 

“This is going deeper and deeper, we keep finding more and more as we look into this,” a senior source said.   

Last Tuesday, Times of Malta exposed how a whistleblower had spoken up about abuse within the Traffic Unit, flagging the matter in a letter last December.  

A lengthy investigation had shown that several members of the corps had in fact been claiming overtime for jobs they never reported for or carried out.

Dozens of members of the force’s 50-strong traffic section are suspected of having been involved in the scam. Acting commissioner Carmelo Magri had been forced to issue an internal call for applications for motorcycle-driving police officers to join the now-decimated traffic section for fears that there may soon be close to no officers policing the roads.

The investigation has now spread to district officers

Forty-one officers had been arrested as suspects in the probe by the end of last week, but sources said investigations continued over the weekend and more officers had been brought in to face questioning.  

The suspected racket, which investigators say has been going on for years, involved officers claiming overtime for work they never did.  

Sources close to the investigation said that for now the probe was focusing on alleged abuse from 2019, however, once they closed off that year the investigation would look over alleged abuse dating back to previous years too.  

What had first started as an investigation into the police traffic unit has now spread to district officers and other departments where similar irregularities are suspected to have taken place.

Police Superintendent Walter Spiteri, responsible for the traffic unit, resigned last week as he too was being investigated together with more than half the members of the squad, including some of its most senior and decorated members.